Losing Humanity
by Starspike7
Summary: Marcus is a soldier and that is all that is clear to him. After waking up in prison, only to be drafted into the military and stationed on Mars, he is left with questions that need to be answered. One thing that he knows though is that there is one man that can answer them. Most know him as the Illusive Man but Marcus knows him as Jack Harper
1. Welcome to Mars

**Hey, Losing Humanity is back. I uploaded this fic a while ago but didn't give it the attention it deserves but now I will be treating this like the woman... I mean story that it deserves to be treated like. So, hope you enjoy it and offer feed back on the things you like so I don't screw them up.**

Marcus lay strapped on a hospital bed with a silhouette of a man stood over him. The man had glowing blue eyes and was speaking. Marcus couldn't understand any word but "Humanity". The man spoke for several minutes and then gave a smile. Marcus gave a puzzled look and felt a sharp pain in his skull.

His eyes shut and he began to struggle but the pain grew worse until the point that he began to hear a loud buzzing in his ears. That buzzing over took him and his eyes opened to his usual room on the Prothean Research Center on Mars. The buzzing was his alarm clock that continued to flash an alert.

Marcus groaned and hit the button on top. He hated military hours, how they had to get up early and go to bed late. He got up and rubbed his face. He had a layer of stubble that had to be taken care of. Marcus cracked his neck and made his way to the bathroom.

He had the same routine every day. Bed, bathroom, Mess hall, work, mess hall, and bed, it never changed from the moment he could remember. As it turned out, that moment started in prison. He could only recall when he first woke up and was being released from prison and drafted into the military. Three days later he ended up on the PRCM. He couldn't remember anything from his childhood to what got him in prison. Now his long term memory ended at three weeks ago.

Of course, some things were ingrained into his brain, like his biotics. He knew how to pull and throw, he could create a barrier and disperse it and he could even charge.

Other things were a mystery to him. He had electrical ports in his arms and a bar code tattooed on the back of his head. He always made sure to cover the ports as to not creep anyone out. The bar code, however, he liked to show off.

Marcus gave the once over for his head. He had successfully shaved off any hair. Just the way he liked it. He then pressed the button on his armor vault and put on his engineer class armor. He gave it a twice over to make sure that there were no holes in it in case he had to go out on the surface for repairs. He found nothing. Marcus looked in the mirror and admired the grey with crimson tint.

He gave a nod and headed off to the Mess Hall. He made his way down the long corridor quickly. He hated how they just went on and criss-crossed and continued on. They were completely confusing. He almost made the wrong turn when he saw Aurelia coming down the same hall.

She came to PRCM as an armed body guard for Professor T'soni. She was a Turian female from Palivan. Her armor was red and black while her face had white lines going up it vertically, one in the center and two up the sides of her face.

Marcus made the right turn and walked with Aurelia. He made sure not to look at her and not be obvious about it. Not because he hated Turians but because if he looked, he would try to figure out her story. He had a habit of doing that to people. This is why it surprised him when she began talking.

"Quit trying not to look. I'm a Turian on a human base. Deal with it."

Marcus looked at her and shook his head, "No, just trying not to be me."

Her eyebrow plate rose, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just habits I've been trying to keep away from."

Aurelia just rolled her eyes and turned into the Mess. Marcus stepped in and walked over to the engineer's table. He took his seat and typed in his meal and the system VI had it made and delivered to his table. Marcus just began eating while the others talked. He didn't really want to associate with them, due to the fact that he was a biotic and not an engineer. Never the less, he was drawn into the conversation by Hank.

Hank was a big and burly man that reminded Marcus of medieval Vikings. His armor was a dark green with white stripes lining every plate of his armor along with his recon hood.

The head engineer believed that they all had to work as a unit. "Hey, Marcus, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Professor T'soni, would you hit that?"

Marcus bit down on his fork. "I would, but rumor has it she's already taken."

Hank began to laugh in his gruff voice. "By who? The chick is so cold and cut off. You would think that she wouldn't let anyone near."

Marcus finished chewing and swallowed. "By everyone's hero, Commander Shepard."

Marcus hated saying Shepard's name and didn't know why. Every time he said it or heard it the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Marcus honestly felt bad about it too. He had not met the man and from what he knew Shepard was a good guy. Yet, the name made his stomach knot and his fist clench.

"Yeah, but Shepard ain't around to-". Hank brought his hand up and listened to his ear piece. "Okay, we'll be right on it. Saddle up, we got a broken water heater and they need a new one."

Marcus, James, and José set their silverware down and got out their Omni-tools. They all got a route set and made their way to the airlock. Marcus got the replacement water heating unit. This was the only thing that he was good for in the engineer core, lifting heavy objects with biotics. He caught up with the rest of the engineers and they all entered the airlock.

The door opened and the engineers stepped out into the atmosphere of the red planet. Everything was normal and the only thing that could cause some worry was the storm off in the distance. Hank looked at everyone and pointed off to the west and the squad moved out.

As the team made their way, each had their own way of killing time. Unfortunately, James, a guy that came a few weeks before Marcus, had to sing old songs from the twenty-tens. Worst part was, the guy couldn't remember some words.

"Might be the drugs talkin and the shots of patrone but these bitches look like models and there hhmm hhmm hhmm hhm. I'll take them back to my parents' house, we'll be home alone. Slappin hhm and hhmm hmm hm. She's tearin it up, yeah-"

Marcus couldn't take it anymore, "God, Jim, shut the hell up. If I wanted to listen to bad music, I'd pull up Hank's music files."

Hank just shook his head and continued to walk, "Ain't nothing wrong with country."

José had to cut in, "Except, the music, and the singing, and the story. Y'know it does suck."

Hank shut down the com channel and everyone was forced to walk in silence. Even in the silence, the other engineers still communicated. They spoke with hand signals and gestures. Marcus had no idea what they were doing and got confused when everyone began motioning a laugh.

He was so distracted that he ran right into Hank and almost dropped the heater over the edge of the cliff they came to. Hank turned around and smacked him in the head. Marcus just gesture a "What" and Hank flipped on the comm.

"Alright, I know you are a biotic and aren't as civilized as we engineers but you need to watch where your go'in."

Marcus rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, sorry, I was just... Distracted."

Hank ran his hand over the top of his helmet. "Well, we are here. Let me open up the panel and we can input the device."

Hank began working on the panel. The rest of the engineers took positions next to him to remove the broken heater. Marcus just stood off to the side and waited while the rest of the men finished their work. When they were ready, Marcus removed the old heater and replaced it with the new. The whole job took about five minutes or so and in that time the storm had moved a great distance.

Hank finished replacing the panel and looked to his men, "Okay, we need to move and get inside before the storm gets any closer."

He was answered with nods of the heads and the engineers began moving but Marcus was still concerned about the old heater, "Hey, Hank, what do I do with this?"

Hank looked at Marcus, "Just throw it over the edge."

Marcus nodded his head and moved the heater over the edge of the cliff and dropped it. What he realized to late was that José had been behind the heater and was knocked off the edge.

The other men heard him scream and they ran over to the cliff and watched José fall. Everyone began to gasp and look around for something to do to help. In the end it was James who found what to do.

"Marcus, help him!"

Marcus thoughts clouded and he did the first thing that came to his mind. Marcus thrusted his arm forward and threw a biotic pull at José. The pull flew fast and caught up to him just in time. José was hit with the pull at three feet from the ground. When it happened, Marcus yanked his arm back and José was lashed into the air above the engineers.

They watched as José fell and landed on the ground in front of them. Arnold stepped forward and ran diagnostics on his armor.

"He looks okay. Damn Marcus what did you do?"

The engineers turned and gave Marcus weird looks. Marcus put his hands up in defense, "I just came up with it on the fly."

James made a lasso motion, "Well, if it ain't trademarked yet. You can call it the biotic lasso."

Marcus shook his head, "No way in hell am I calling it the lasso. Maybe the lash, Sound good to you guys?"

Jim raised his hand to say something, but was quickly cut off as a white shuttle flew over. Everyone looked at the shuttle and the engineer squad feel completely silent. All of them knew what a white shuttle meant.

Hank began barking orders before anyone could fully recover from what they just saw, "Alright, back to the mess. Keep your weapons out and ready. Cerberus has arrived."

The team pulled out their weapons and checked their thermal clips. Tom and Jim pulled out Predator pistols. Marcus readied his tempest and made warp ammo for it. Hank readied his Assault rifle and hefted José over his shoulder.

"Alright, time to earn our pay."

Aurelia ran down the hall as quick as possible. Sirens and alerts blared all around her as she ran. Cerberus had arrived and prisoners weren't at the top of their list.

Aurelia came to a split hallway and saw down the left was retreating Alliance personnel and down the right was Cerberus shock troops. Aurelia was about to run after the Alliance scientists when she realized that Professor T'Soni was down the right hall.

Aurelia let out a curse and thought quickly of how she could get past the troops. She hit her armor's cloak and crouched by the wall. The troops came quickly and huddled in the inter section.

The Centurion stepped out looking down both intersections that they had to travel. He put his arm out to point at two troops when it snapped down at an unnatural angle and was then yanked clean from his body.

Before the other troops could react Aurelia pulled out her Carnifex and put a bullet into one assault trooper and knifed another with her omniblade. That left one troop left, he pulled up his Evicerator with bayonet attachment and Aurelia kicked it into the air. She then grabbed it and brought it down on the assault troops head.

Aurelia looked and made sure that was the last troop. When she was sure it was clear she ran down the hall toward Liara's lab. She knew it her gut that Liara was there and okay. She had to be.

_**Flashback:**_

_**2 years-9 months- 14 days ago**_

Aurelia woke up and walked out into the kitchen. She pulled out a dextro meal and threw it into the food restorer. While that was working she walked back to her dad's room. Aurelia walked up and banged on the door.

"Dad! Get up we have to get you too the space port!"

The door opened immediately and out stepped her dad, "Hey sweetie, what's the worry? I'm supposed to leave in six hours."

Aurelia let out a sigh, "You need to be there early. The council may have said to be there at six but the ship may arrive early."

Her father patted her on the shoulder and gave her a smile, "Aurelia, it is always best to be at a place right on time. You can get in trouble for being early too, y'know."

Aurelia brushed her dad's hand off her shoulder and then made her way down the hall, "Sorry, I just don't want you to make a mistake and get in trouble."

Her dad gave a chuckle and then spoke softly, "You care too much Aury. I'm a specter after all. Although, I do make a habit of being on time. I can still be late if I want to."

Aurelia took a turn into the kitchen and saw the food was done, "I know dad. The best of the galaxy and all."

Her dad walked over and grabbed his own breakfast, "You better get used to these meals quick. After all, they will be the finest cuisine you will get for a long time."

Aurelia nodded and began to eat. The food wasn't so bad. As long as you ate it quick and didn't focus on the flavor.

"So, I think I found what I'm going to train as."

Her dad turned to her and raised his eye plate, "Oh, and what might that be?"

Aurelia swallowed her bite, "An infiltrator."

Her dad gave a smile, "That's my girl just like a true Kryik."

Aurelia smiled back, "Maybe someday, I can be on the specters with you?"

Her dad's smile grew even bigger, "Nihlus and daughter? Could happen, but first you have to beat me in hand to hand combat."

Aurelia smile became a smirk, "I can beat any man in hand to hand combat. After all, I have flexibility on my side."

Nilhus just shook his head, "I really hope you haven't told anyone that."

**Present:**

Aurelia was right outside Professor T'Soni's lab and punched in the code to enter. The code was accepted and the door opened to show T'Soni calmly working on her project in a copletely quiet room.

"Professor T'Soni., I have to get you out of here. The base is being attacked by Cerberus."

The professor wiped the sleep from her eyes and continued to work, "Yes, Aurelia, I know we are under attack. But I need to finish decoding this data before we can- No!" T'Soni stood up and shot her computer.

"Uh, is something wrong?"

"Cerberus must have locked me out. I need to get to the main archive. Aurelia, escort me, would you?"

Aurelia gave a nod and they moved out. They both moved quietly and continued until they reached a terminal that was working.

"Alright, I have to check the station's status. Keep me covered while I'm doing this."

Aurelia looked down the halls and through nearby corridors. When she made sure all was clear she ran back to Liara who had just finished her searches and gave Aurelia a look of fear. Aurelia opened her mouth to say something but Liara put her hand to her lips and pointed down the hall.

Aurelia turned and saw a three man team of troops coming down the hall. They could be Cerberus or Alliance but Aurelia wasn't going to be friendly about finding out.

Marcus, Hank, and James made their way through the empty base with no trouble at all. Cerberus had all but completely disappeared in the lower sections of the base and the engineers travelled through with no conflict.

James began speaking when he thought the coast was clear, "I still don't think it was a good idea leaving José at the front with the marines."

Hank smacked him in the head and put his finger to his mouth. The signal that he could mute his external speakers and just use his mike.

"You know he would rather be in hear with us."

Hank shook his head and continued to train his weapon on what was right in front of him, "He was injured and knocked out. There was no way we could carry him through this."

Marcus just let the two bicker about whether leaving José behind was smart or not. He didn't care; he was alive at this moment. The sense of battle and the threat of being attacked at any moment gave him a sort of peace.

Every movement that he made was met with silence. He liked it, just the time for an ambush. Marcus took a few more steps and heard the creak of an armored joint behind him.

Marcus turned around and shot a shockwave right behind him. The shockwave flew forward and Marcus could see the air ripple where a person in a tactical cloak moved to dodge the attack.

Marcus ran forward where he saw the ripple and charged it. He missed and ended up slamming into Hank. They both went sliding across the room and saw James taken in and then the enemy decloaked.

The Turian held James in a grip so she could easily control him and take cover behind him at the same moment. Marcus wasn't going to let James be taken and used a lash on him. He flew back past Marcus and then knocked Hank over again.

Marcus didn't care though; he was having the time of his life. He charged the Turian and this time had a huge effect. He slammed into her and she launched backwards toward a wall. Unfortunately, this Turian was a bit more limber than others and flipped around and sprung off the wall with her legs. She then gave Marcus a round house kick to the head and he landed over on the pile of Hank and James.

The Turian walked up and drew a gun on the trio. Marcus thought quickly and tore his helmet off. Then, he chucked it at the alien. The helmet hit and knocked the gun out of its hand and then Marcus landed a shot to the Turian's face. The Truian slid across the room and over by an asari.

Marcus looked up and saw the asari, "Professor T'Soni?"

Professor T'Soni reached down and helped up the Turian. Marcus finally got a good enough look at her to see it was the Professor's body guard.

Marcus rubbed the back of his head when he realized her had just attacked her, "Sorry, Aurelia, I got a bit carried away."

Aurelia got up and wiped the blood dripping down her mandible, "that's alright. You stopped me from breaking your neck."

Professor T'Soni got between Marcus and Aurelia, she called over to Hank and the two of them began to speak. During their chat, Marcus's head began to hurt. He felt as though he could remember something. Like it was right on the tip of his tongue, then, that feeling over took him and his eyes rolled up into his head. He proceeded to collapse on the floor and went lights out.

_**Flashback:**_

_**_Years- _ Months- _ Days ago**_

Marcus got up off the ground and looked in front of him. He saw a big burley looking kid, that the others around seemed to be calling Butch. Marcus looked down at himself and saw he had the body of a seven year old. He then looked back to the kid across from him. Butch was shaking his fists in the air like he had just won something. Marcus tried to squint but his facial movement caused him pain.

Butch then turned to Marcus and smiled, he pointed at Marcus and then his shoe. Marcus felt his body move in compliance with Butch's gesture and got down on his hands and knees. He felt his tongue stick out and his head moved down to lick Butch's shoe.

Marcus tried to fight with every fiber of his being but he got nearer and nearer to Butch's shoe. Then, when Marcus thought he was about to do it. He sucked his tongue back in his mouth and stood up into an uppercut.

He knocked Butch back and brought his hands up, ready to take him on. The two circled and began to come in to clash when they heard and adult yell something from the door to a giant building. All the kids responded by cheering and running to the door.

Marcus looked at Butch who shook his head and began to run, too. Marcus just walked to the door and entered the building. He followed the kids to an open room with little to no light. They all were lining up and Marcus found his way to a spot that felt like his.

The light's then came on and a man entered the room. He had glowing eyes and a suite. The man walked over to a table and sat down his coffee cup. The man then said something and each kid raised their arms and looked like they were trying to lift the cup.

Marcus just stood there and did nothing. Once every kid gave up Marcus took his turn. He stepped out and raised his arm up. The cup lifted off the ground and levitated over to the man. The man gave a smirk and took it out of the air.

Marcus was then pushed by one of the women that had been escorting them to the man. He looked at Marcus and then at his cup. He said who are you and Marcus gave his name. Then the man pointed to Marcus's face and looked inquisitive. Marcus then pointed over at Butch.

The man nodded and took Marcus's hand. He walked him into an office and had Marcus sit in front of the desk. The man sat in the chair behind it and pulled out a cigarette. The man began to speak and Marcus could again only understand the word humanity.

Then, the man looked at him in and said plain and simple, "Do you want to save humanity?"

Marcus stood up from the chair and answered, "Yes."

The man smiled and put his hand out, "Then, pleasure to meet you Marcus. My name is Jack Harper."


	2. That Turian Bitch

**Hey****, sorry that this took so long, I will have the next chapter up by tomorrow. Borderlands 2 kind of grabbed me and wouldn't let go so I had to appease it. Also, before you say anthing, Fanmail will be answered at the bottom of texts. Lastly a quick shout out to my friend JustAFerret. Klenon will not appear in this story but I am referencing him because... I can.**

Marcus blinked away the confusion from his eyes, had he passed out or was it just a vivid memory. he got up to his feet and saw that nobody noticed what had happened to him. That was a good thing; they didn't need to be worried about his well being in a time like this.

He made like he was checking his omni-tool's radar when in reality he was pulling up an email that he had gotten a week ago. Eyes darting from word to word, he read through it like he had before but now he wondered if he knew this person. The message read:

**Hey Marcus,**

**Long time, no see. How have you been? I am just fine; I have been looking for him while I'm here in Illium. Haven't found anything on him yet but I am sure he will pop up soon. With the largest terrorist organization in the world you would think someone you'd have info on Jack Harper.**

**Oh, just realized that I never mentioned what I was doing here in Illium. It's a simple priceless artifact in a museum kind of thing. You know how it is. XD**

**I am excited to see you again; I know it has been a while and all. By the way, have you seen Klenon recently? I got a message from him but it didn't say much other than to thank me for being a great friend. KLENON called ME his FRIEND. I think he may be in trouble, call it feminine intuition.**

**Message me back when you get this, we need to talk. ;-)**

**Love,**

**KG**

At the time of getting it, he didn't know what to think but it mentioned that guy from his dream or memory. Jack Harper, whoever he was, Marcus had a feeling that he really needed to find him. On top of that Marcus needed to find this KG.

Marcus figured this email was the best place to start. He hit the reply button and began writing back to KG.

**Dear KG,**

**Hey, sorry for taking so long to reply. I have had my hands tied the last few weeks. Where can we meet at, I think I have found something you might want.**

**From,**

**Marcus**

He was lying sure but Marcus figured that he should keep it short and subtle. Better to talk about too little then too much. Once finished, he looked up from his omni-tool and saw something coming down the hall toward them. He quickly pulled his SMG and pointed it at the shadow.

The shadow stopped as soon as it saw his gun and immediately disappeared. Marcus began looking for a shimmer in the air. His instincts told him it wasn't his imagination and whatever that was is coming for them.

Marcus just held still and aimed his weapon down range and carefully watching the air. Then something caught his eye over by Professor T'Soni. He leaped over and tackled the Professor as the attacker uncloaked and swung its sword.

He looked back and the sword connected to Hank. It cut deep into his gut and sliced through his spine. The figure turned to Marcus as Hank fell into two pieces in the background. It brought its sword up and just before it brought it down on them, Aurelia grabbed the sword and ripped it away from the figure.

She swiped the sword and cut through the infiltrator with one swing. She walked over and put her hand out, Marcus reached forward to take it but she slapped his hand out of the way and took the Professor's instead. While she helped T'Soni, he got up and ran over to Hank.

He knelt next to Hank and James who was already with their mutual friend. Hank was gargling something and reaching out for something. James removed Hank's helmet as Marcus took Hank's hand and laid it on his chest. Hank then reached into his armor and pulled out a note with some blood on it. He held it up and James took it.

As soon as he had the note, Hank's eyes rolled up into his head and he was gone. Marcus looked over to Aurelia and felt a surge of rage. He stood up from his now dead commander and headed right toward the Turian. The fire in his eyes was visible to anyone.

He stepped up to Aurelia and Liara and cut them off in mid conversation. "So, Aurelia, what exactly is your job here?"

She looked at him in confusion. "My mission is to see the well-being of Professor T'Soni."

Marcus gave laugh with noticeable irritation in it. "That's funny."

her eyebrow plate rose. "Why is that?"

"Because, I am the one who had to save her sorry ass when that… phantom came in here."

Aurelia reacted within a second and grabbed him by the neck. "Let us not forget who has the sword in hand."

He made a punching motion and shot a biotic throw at her, knocking her away from him. "Let's not forget who has the biotics."

Aurelia stood up and began marching toward Marcus, who was itching for a fight. They both had a 'don't back down' attitude and were about to come out swinging. That's when James stepped in the middle of the two. He had a worried look and was flinching expecting a blow.

"Stop, we have enough to worry about without you two going to blows."

Aurelia stopped but Marcus continued to walk forward. "Out of the way James, Hank is dead because this idiot forgot her job."

She shook her head and opened up her omni-tool and hit three buttons on it. She then pointed it at Marcus. "You have ten seconds."

He rolled his eyes and began channeling his biotics into one had. "You have one."

He pulled his fist back and began to punch when a wave of exhaustion hit him and his fist felt heavy. His arm dropped and his legs could no longer hold him up. He put all of his strength into his right arm and gave her 'the finger' before he lost consciousness.

Aurelia slid the blade into her armor holster and looked down at her omni-tool. "Hm, looks like it works faster on biotics."

She looked up and saw James running over to Marcus and checking for a pulse trying to see if his friend is alive. Aurelia walked over and gave James a nudge with her knee. He looked up at her like he was about to smack her.

"What did you do?"

Aurelia let her voice get soft and assuring. "I just activated his suits internal sedation modules. He's just knocked out."

James looked down at his armor, "Are you going to-"

Aurelia shook her head. "No, you aren't a biotic. It is only in case they were to lose control."

He looked at Marcus and then back at her. "How are we going to carry him with us?"

Aurelia shrugged. "We are going to have to leave him here. The sedation should keep him out until this is over anyway and since he isn't moving, Cerberus troops should leave him alone."

James looked over at Marcus and then nodded. She was glad he was smart enough to not argue with her like his friend did. Now, they need to find a way to signal help. Aurelia opened up her Omni-tool to listen in to radio frequencies. She flipped through channel after channel until she reached one with a voice on it.

"They are executing prisoners."

Aurelia turned around to tell the group the news when she saw a look on Professor T'Soni's face. She hadn't seen this look before, was it angst, regret, longing? She stepped away from James and over to Professor T'Soni.

She leaned into T'Soni and made sure their backs were to the engineer, "Is everything all right Professor?"

The Professor took a deep breath and then her face was blank as it had always been, "Yes, it is fine. I traced that broadcast. It was coming from the front gate. If I know that voice, it is our best bet for getting out of here."

Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "And if you don't know that voice?"

Liara thought for a moment. "Then at least we will have back up."

She shook her head, right now they needed a miracle to survive and this could be it. Cerberus had fully taken over, that much was clear with all the silence in the base. There was only one way out and all the troops guarding it didn't belong to the Alliance. Hopefully the incoming forces that they heard would be able to take them out.

Aurelia called over to James and they took off down the halls heading toward the gate. They had a few close calls with Cerberus but Aurelia proved her worth using her tactical cloak. The three continued to move until they reached an armory.

She was the first to enter after Professor T'Soni used her all access pass code to open the door. Aurelia entered with her gun pointed strait and checking every inch of it before having the others come in. Once everyone was in, they began grabbing all weapons that they needed.

The Professor took a Shuriken SMG and a Predator pistol. Aurelia grabbed a viper sniper rifle and a Vindicator assault rifle. James walked around looking at all the weapons but couldn't decide which one he wanted. Aurelia rolled her eyes and walked over to help the guy.

"What are you looking for?"

James looked at her and then back at the weapons. "I don't know, I would prefer something better than a SMG but I'm afraid it will slow my tech abilities down too much."

Aurelia smiled and grabbed an Avenger assault rifle and a Predator pistol off the wall, "Here, these will give you what you want and it makes sure you have two weapons when you need a little more fire power."

James looked at them and then nodded. He took the pistol and placed it on the magnetic holster and then activated the assault rifle. She smiled and walked over to the door to leave. She was about to hit the button to open it when she heard footsteps and voices outside. Quickly, she pulled back and whispered to the others.

"We have Cerberus troops on the other side."

James looked at the door. "What are we going to do? We have to get to the front gate."

The Professor cut in after he was done. "I can climb through the ventilation system to get to the storage room near there."

Aurelia thought about it for a moment and then shook her head, "I can't let you do that. My mission is to protect you and I can't crawl through the vents."

T'Soni turned away from Aurelia and walked over to the vent, "Too bad, there are Cerberus troops outside that door and unless I go. I will die and you will fail you mission."

Aurelia began contemplating possible outcomes if she made her stay verses making her go. She thought that if she could just leave her over armor, then she could go or maybe if they booby trapped the door with grenades. In the end she gave a nod to allow the Professor to go.

She ran over and opened up the vent system. "I will make sure that we come back to get you."

Aurelia nodded and grabbed the vent cover for when T'Soni left. Once she got in the vent and began crawling down the shaft and Aurelia replaced the cover. All that she could do now was sit and begin looking for a way to slow down the Cerberus troops.

Then, she saw James sitting by the controls with his omni-tool open and he was opening and closing tons of programs. As he did, she saw that the control panel for the door was slowly losing buttons and dimming as he did so. Soon, the entire door went dark and they heard the Cerberus troops panicking on the other side.

Aurelia walked up and put her hand on James's shoulder. "What did you do?"

He smiled and turned to her. "I just shut off the lights and put codes over it to keep them from turning them back on."

Aurelia gave a nod at his success. "That's good, but now they know we are in here."

James smiled again. "Nope, I made sure that I did this to every armory and made a warning pop-up to anyone who tries accessing it. The idiots will probably believe it. It says code magenta is active."

Aurelia laughed. "Good, but why magenta?"

James gave an even bigger smile. "It's my favorite color."

Marcus planted his hand on the ground and lifted himself up, the others had left him. Now, he was angry at the Turian, at Cerberus, at whoever got in his fucking way. He was in his element and he knew it, down and out was his way of working.

When you're down and out people go easy on you. That's good; it allows you to get the jump on them. More than that, it gives you a drive to win.

First, he needed to get himself worked up so that the drugs wouldn't hold him down too long. He activated his armor's adrenaline boost and began generating a barrier. He had no idea why he was doing this but his instincts told him to. Funny thing was that has been how he has acted since he got into this engineer core, instinct.

Now, he was ready, first goal was to find the bitch and beat her face in. Second, find a way out of the god forsaken Mars base. Third, find Jack Harper.

Marcus took off down the hall in the direction he thought they would be going. He ran down stretch after stretch in search of Aurelia. He finally rounded a corner and came up on a group of Cerberus that were checking out a door. Before they saw him he dodged back around the corner and readied to attack.

Once he knew he was fully prepared and had a good plan, he stepped out and shot himself off in a biotic charge right at the one that looked like the leader of the group.

He hit with him with such force that he slid down the hall to the intersection 25 feet away. Then, Marcus turned to the one working on the door. He pulled back a fist and wrapped it in a biotic pulse. Marcus delivered it right to the bastards head and destroyed his skull.

He then began beating the rest of the troops around him. It felt good, it made him feel at home, in the element he grew up in, like he was a normal person. He could think while he was in combat. How he felt, was he really justified in his anger toward Aurelia. Soon, he had destroyed all the Cerberus and left them in bloody piles.

Marcus looked at the door they were working on. It looked completely powered down but he remembered one of the engineers telling him about this. It was an easy way to hide yourself from the enemy.

He pulled his omni-tool out and ran a diagnostics check on the door. It read a code magenta, Marcus had no clue what that was. Marcus began rubbing his helmet face mask trying to think of what code magenta was. It didn't mean a virus that was code grey. Blue was an explosion. He finally gave up and decided to just leave the door.

With a sigh, he took off down the halls in search of someone to help him. He took the first left that came up to see if they had gone toward the transit station. Not long after that he came to the end of the hall and saw a Cerberus troop choking and alliance trooper with a strange blue tether coming from his arm.

Marcus immediate analysis was to keep the guy at range. He took his eyes off the trooper and reached down to grab out his Predator pistol. When he looked back up, the man was right in his face making a whipping motion with the tether. Marcus ducked it but it caught his helmet and took it off. He immediately went from his duck into and uppercut knocking the man back.

When Marcus looked at the man he saw something in his eyes. A blue glow that was unholy in every sense of the word. Marcus saw that as his opening and brought his pistol up. The trooper began to charge him but Marcus stayed completely still as he lined up his shot. The trooper was three feet away when Marcus put several shots into his face.

The man dropped to the floor and fell still. Marcus walked over and checked him out for any signs of him being a special kind of trooper. Upon looking him over, Marcus found the name Dragoon on his back but that was it. Whatever this thing is, he would need to remember to check it out.

Marucs got up and walked over to the alliance trooper. He checked for any life signs but the man was dead. He opened his Omni-tool and tagged the man so that when body collection happened, he would be easy to find. He then took the man's Avenger Assault rifle and his Katana shotgun. It felt bad to take it but Marcus needed all the help he could get.

He pulled up the rifle and began sprinting down halls searching for the team that left him. Marcus finally came on some retreating Cerberus troops. He quickly dispatched them with a blast each from the Katana.

Marcus let a smile come to his face as he continued to move. If there were Cerberus troops retreating, that means the Alliance is pushing them back. Marcus came to a door and quickly hit the open button. He was happy until he saw the face that made all his rage come out.

Commander Shepard

**Fanmail:**

**Guest:**

**Because I like Nihlus.**


	3. Meet Shepard

Marcus's biotics flared and he began to channel a throw in his hand. He brought his fist back and readied to throw it at Shepard. The second he released and brought his fist forward to fire, he was put in a stasis before he could fully let it go.

He couldn't move and was stuck staring at Shepard. The longer he was in the stasis, the angrier he got. Marcus tried to move but couldn't no matter how hard he tried, the stasis was too strong.

Shepard walked over to him and began looking him over. "Is this the guy you talked about Liara?"

Liara walked over to Marcus. "Yes, he is."

Shepard nodded and put his hand on Marcus's shoulder. "Well, I guess we need to let him out."

Shepard's biotics flared and the stasis around marcus burst causing him to let the throw go. It flew forward and hit the wall with the force he had intended for Shepard. He tried to channel another one and throw it a Shepard but he started to feel himself drain and the sedatives started to take effect. He turned to Liara, sweat started to form on his forehead as he fought to stay awake.

"Liara, where are the others?"

Liara walked up to Marcus and started giving him a once over. "That can wait; it looks like the sedatives that Aurelia used on you are still active."

Marcus closed his eyes and tried to put a full thought together. "Yeah, I had to use an adrenaline shot to stay awake. As you can tell, it is starting to run out."

Shepard walked up to Marcus. "Marcus, do you remember me?"

"No, but your face pisses me off", Marcus said with annoyance.

Shepard nodded and looked over to Liara. "Why can't he remember?"

Liara pulled up her omni-tool and began scanning Marcus. "It's because the electrical shock fried the bomb and the part of his brain that it was connected to."

Marcus tuned to Liara. "What are you talking about?"

Liara looked into Marcus's eyes. "Just hold still."

Liara hit a few buttons on her omni-tool and Marcus felt a stab into his spine. The pain caused him to double over as he felt a set of needles release liquid. It took forty-five seconds for the needles to finish and once it was done Marcus felt completely awake, enough that he was able to keep his emotions in partial check.

"What the hell did you do?"

Liara shut her omnitool down. "I administered a counter to the sedative. The substance just ate all the remaining sedative in you. Now, you can help us."

Marcus rubbed his neck and gave Liara an angry glare. "Not until I know what you two were just talking about."

Shepard put his hand on Marcus's shoulder as an act to calm him down. This however made him more furious and tried to elbow Shepard. He underestimated the skill that Shepard had and landed on his stomach with his helmet ripped off from Shepard countering and pinning him to the floor.

"Look, this is only going down one way. We need to get to the archives and we need help. Now, if you don't want to be sedated again you are going to help us get there. After that, I promise we will tell you what happened."

Marcus was overtaken with a fit of rage and began struggling to free himself. He was quickly subdued by Shepard giving him a quick blow to the head. Marcus hated to admit it but he was at their mercy. Shepard was just too damn strong.

"Fine, I am in."

Shepard stood up and laughed. "There is a good boy."

Marcus got up and huffed. "Alright, where are we going?"

Shepard turned around and walked over to a door that a woman was working on. Marcus quickly did a double take after seeing her. She had a fine body and a sexy face to match. Marcus had to admit, he liked the color blue especially on her. Shepard patted her on the shoulder and she looked at him and said something. Marcus figured it was something about how amazing he was or that he was surviving the Cerberus troops all alone.

Shepard said something to her and she got up and walked over to him. Marcus quickly turned around and picked up his helmet so it didn't seem like he was staring and composed himself. He couldn't remember the last time he talked to a lady (nor anything else for that matter) but he had a general idea on what to do.

The lady in blue walked up to Marcus and before he could say anything spoke. "What the hell is wrong with you? That is a commanding officer and the Shepard. You are just some grunt that can't handle his anger issues. You should have been kissing his feet."

Marcus smiled, he felt under attack at this point. That was good, he felt calm in a battle. He knew that she was now the hostile and he was the target. Being the center of attention made him feel good.

"Ma'am, you call me the ordinary grunt and yet I didn't see you licking his boots."

She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "That's because I am a Lieutenant. Not just some dumb ass like you."

Marcus smiled at how she showed fire and began to say something when the doors opened. Marcus looked over down the hallway that had just become accessible and saw the entry bay. He gave a nod and now knew where they were going. They were close enough that it would only take a few minutes to finish their task.

Marcus's happy thought was cut short by the security gun turning and locking in on them. He quickly grabbed the Lieutenant and dodged to the side as the gun opened fire on them. Him and the Lieutenant took the right side of the door while Shepard and Liara took the left.

Marcus looked over at the Lieutenant and immediately started running everything he learned from the Engineers about that gun. It was a standard turret with lock-on and stability software. That meant that after it locked on to someone, it would fire a full thermal clip at them even if they were in cover. Marcus immediately grabbed the Lieutenant's shoulder to tell her.

"The gun is a lock and fire, if we dodge from side to side then it won't be able to kill us."

She looked back at him and nodded. "Okay, follow me."

The Lieutenant ran in and stopped at a computer console for cover. The gun locked on to her and dispensed an entire clip. Once it was done, she ran to the next computer and the next. Marcus was about to follow her when Shepard took off and began mimicking her. He cursed, threw on his helmet and got in right after Shepard. The three of them continued until they got to the railing and then it became dodging from crate to crate.

Soon, Shepard and the Lieutenant moved into the control room ahead of Marcus and Liara. Marcus saw that and quickly surged forward to catch up but was caught in a hail of bullets from the other side of the cargo room and he was forced to dive back and take cover with Liara.

Liara peaked over the crate and quickly ducked down. "Okay, I will throw a singularity and you will blast the two troops with your weapon."

Marcus reached back and pulled the assault rifle off his back. "Okay, let's do this."

Liara raised an eyebrow at Marcus. "That won't cut it."

Liara reached to her side and pulled up an SMG that looked like a bug. She handed it to Marcus and then began generating a singularity in her hand. He took the SMG and popped its thermal clip so it was full. Liara darted up and shot at the singularity.

Marcus quickly shot up with her and used the SMG. As he did the world took on a gold glow and he was in a forest standing beside someone in armor like the man with the blue whips. Marcus brought up his gun and shot at two other guys dressed in the same armor. As he shot he noticed that he was in the same armor as the man next to him.

The vision quickly faded and he was back in the cargo room with Liara. He looked across the gap and saw that the two Cerberus troops were down. the vision left him dumb struck and sat stunned for a second until Liara stood up and patted him on the shoulder.

"Good job, Marcus."

Marcus handed Liara her weapon and the two of them headed into the control room. He saw more troops dead than he had killed. As much of his attention that it took up to see all the carnage, the man in the middle of the room took most of it. It was another whip user. Marcus walked up to the body and inspected it.

He saw that labeled on the armor's front, in the same place as Shepard's N7, said Dragoon. Something about that screamed wrong to Marcus but he couldn't figure it out. He looked over to Liara as she sat on the console, Shepard and the Lieutenant left out the door.

He walked over to Liara. "Professor T'Soni, what is my connection to that guy?"

Liara finished typing on the console and turned to Marcus. "I guess I better give you something. That is a Dragoon trooper. Cerberus created them in turn to their Project Phoenix."

Marcus rolled his hand forward signaling more information. "And Project Phoenix is?"

Liara closed her eyes and let out a huff. "Project Phoenix is what you were used for. They experimented on you and turned you into what you are now. Marcus how old do you think you are?"

Marcus thought to himself. "I guess thirty-two but that's in comparison with what I have seen."

Liara put he hands together and leaner her elbows on her knees. "Marcus, you are twenty-four. Cerberus sped up you aging process in order to make your body accept the augmentation."

Marcus looked down at his arm and felt himself start to shake. He grabbed his gauntlet and detached it from his arm. Marcus looked at his arm in fear. The plug in, something that he had never paid much attention to was now felt like a three-hundred pound weight on his arm.

Liara stood up and walked over to Marcus. "Look, if this is too much you can stay here and cover the escape."

Marcus thought felt his mouth opening up to say yes but immediately shut it. Words couldn't describe what he felt right now. Actually, one could, rage. He felt rage; like it had been there the whole time and he just forgot about it. looking over at the Dragoon and knew what he was going to do.

Marcus took the Dragoon's arm armor off and shoved it on his arm. He then pressed the link button and something stabbed down into the plug. Once it was in place, he repeated the action with his other arm and soon had both implants in place.

Marcus looked at the armor he now wore. First thing he did once he got out of here, after beating Aurelia is to get these thing's painted. Marcus readied his armor and turned to Liara.

"Ready to join them?"

Liara nodded, "Let's go."

They walked out the door and Marcus called over to Shepard. "Hey, Shepard, what's the plan?"

Shepard ran over to them. "We got them to respond and come over in the tram. We need to set up in cover and ambush them."

Liara and Marcus both nodded and got into position as they waited for the tram. Marcus got the nearest crate to the enemy so he could open up as soon as the go in. Liara and the Lieutenant got the left side in flanking position. Shepard got up in the top level so he could snipe down on the enemy.

Marcus shouldered his weapon and readied for the oncoming soldiers. He heard the hiss of the door opening and knew it was almost time. He moved to the side and glanced over at Liara and the Lieutenant to see if they saw anything.

She was made a motion that told Marcus there were seven coming out of the tram. Marcus generated two pulls and readied to lash at a moment's notice. Marcus watched two shadow's come up to the crate and one peaked around.

He quickly lashed the one peeking into the air and then turned to another one that had a shield. He used the lash on the shield and then gave a biotic punch to the hoplites face. The punch sent him back into one of the troopers and bought Marcus a second to dodge back around the crate. Marcus gave his amp a couple seconds to recharge and then dodged back around to see what else he could do.

Unfortunately, the others wiped out the rest of the Cerberus troops. Marcus huffed and walked over to the tram. Shepard quickly got in behind him and got over to the controls.

"Liara, watch the other side. Ashley, take up sniper support." Shepard then hit the controls and they began hauling towards the other side.

Marcus felt left out because the hero forgot about him. Something in his head figured that he would just sit by the door so he could be the first one out once they landed on the other side. Once they started going he heard the Lieutenant now known as Ashley yelling at someone.

"Hey, dumbass, you're with the Engineer core right?"

It took Marcus a second but he realized that she was talking to him. "Yeah, why?"

Ashley just continued to talk making idle chit-chat. "Just wondering, never seen a biotic with those guys."

Marcus gave a chuckle. "Yeah, I'm not one to work on the tech. Mostly just the heavy lifting and moving objects."

"So you're like the loser of the nerds then." Ashley called back.

Marcus just rolled his eyes. "Lady, I would be dumbfounded if you could do half the shit I do."

Shepard cut into their conversation. "Watch it Corporal, you are speaking to a higher up."

Marcus focused on his arm and reeled out a biotic whip. "You try and pull rank on me and I will whip you off this fu-"

Marcus was cut off by a bomb exploding on the tracks causing him to fall off. Quickly, in mid-fall, he used the whip to grab onto the door frame and save his ass. His eyes shot up to the railing and down the track and saw that there was no way that they would be going anywhere in this cart. Then, he looked over at the entry for the other cart to come but it was packed with Cerberus troops.

Marcus quickly climbed up his whip to get back onto the broken cart. He got to the top and began to pull himself in but the armor was severely weighing him down. Slowly, he began to slip back off the edge until Shepard saw him and grabbed his hand and hauled him in.

Marcus pulled the whips back in and pulled out his predator pistol. He took cover next to the door but far enough away to make sure that he didn't fall down. Shepard ran over to the corner and began firing on the troops on their way over.

Marcus waited until the tram was right across from theirs so he could make a jump onto it. He took his chance when it arrived, stepping back and then leaped the gap onto the Cerberus tram where he gunned down two troops to the right while Shepard took out the others on the left.

After they had taken out the Cerberus troops Marcus ran over to help everyone onto the new tram. He grabbed Shepard's hand and hauled him over, and simultaneously fought the urge to drop him. Marcus then grabbed Liara's hand and was strong enough to lift her across the gap. Then he stuck his hand out to Ashley, she avoided his help and jumped across on her own.

After that it was just back to what they had done previous. Ashley took up a sniping position in case they opened the tram door. Liara took lookout next to Shepard and Marcus stayed by the door more wary of what could happen.

Marcus sat by the door and looked over to the troops on the other side. From what he could tell they were digging in and this was going to be a tough fight. Marcus popped his SMGs clip and waited for the tram to dock.

It seemed like hours as the tram headed toward the dock slowly but steady, taking them too their impending fight. Marcus looked around at everyone else and saw them getting wrestles as well. Liara threw up a Barrier and was checking her SMG. Ashley switched to her assault rifle and adjusted the scope several times. Shepard just continued to work the controls and not paying attention to what lied ahead.

Marcus saw that they were getting close to the dock and got ready. They docked and he jumped across the medium and into the second tram slow before the blast door opened allowing him to flank the enemy as they opened fire on Shepard.

Marcus opened fire immediately at the Centurion leader. He took several shots and his shields dropped. This gave Marcus an opening and he charged the Centurion. He fired forward knocking the centurion back but not out.

This gave the vanguard a chance to throw out his whip and channel a shockwave through it. With that shockwave he disintegrated the centurion and knocked the troops behind him back and it gave Marcus a chance to retreat back and fire his SMG as he did so.

Marcus quickly grabbed cover behind some crates and looked around for Shepard but he didn't see him. In fact, Marcus couldn't see Liara or Ashley either. That's when he peeked over the box and saw that the Cerberus troops were dead and they were heading into the main complex.


End file.
